Palden's Archive | Psychic conflict-resolution work

This report covers humanitarian psychic and 'remote influencing' work done by the author and his associates. Its purpose is to outline some of the details and dimensions involved, and to recount the recent history of this particular thread of work, and also to discuss some of the issues arising in connection with it. This is to assist people who have not participated in such work to understand a little more of it, and also to provide ideas to those who have been involved in related actions such as healing circles, peace meditation and lightworking.

Introduction

As far as I know, the specific nature of this work is unique, though I am aware other individuals and groups carry out related activities – often quietly and quite hidden-away. There is a sizeable international body of well-meaning people carrying out 'lightworking' and prayer/meditation in connection with peace and current world issues too. The work my colleagues and I have been doing is philosophically and operationally distinct, though related in spirit and intent. I have recently left this group for other pastures, yet a proportion of the substance of this report is derived from working with it.

The methods used have evolved from experience and experimentation, though drawing on traditions in occult, psychic and healing-circle work, compassionate meditation, prayer and remote viewing. We have been carrying out coordinated groupwork, whether we are in one location or dispersed geographically, operating at pre-agreed times and focusing on chosen subjects. This work is done in connection with a non-earthly spiritual wisdom-source which was behind the book The Only Planet of Choice, compiled by me in 1993. [The Only Planet of Choice – essential briefings from deep space, Phyllis Schlemmer and Palden Jenkins, Gateway Books, 1993, first edition. Now out of print.]

This 'management' involves nine beings with a tributary grouping of twenty-seven working more closely with us. These draw on a larger network involving apparently some 250,000 universal entities – rather a mind-boggling and humbling privilege! We have acted as operatives connecting this source with specific current world situations and people, as if operating on their behalf 'in the field'. We are also act individually, according to our best motives and intelligence. The extent to which we yield to them or act on our own accord varies, and where one becomes the other is difficult to determine.

Some of our actions and methods have been questioned. Our approach is sometimes regarded as overly interventionist or 'engaging with dark forces'. We have re-examined our practices regularly. Our observation is that energies of love, light and peace, however well-meant, can roll off the backs of people in hardened, polarised situations and that they can become impervious unless such energies are mediated in ways people on the ground indeed can receive or comprehend. This differs from the belief many spiritualists, lightworkers and religious practitioners hold, and we seek not to discourage these beliefs but to complement them. We deem that today's world situation is sufficiently dire to require all possible approaches, and that the key issue is that harm is avoided or is minimised, or that lessons learned add to the 'R&D' process under way in this line of work.

We do not work specifically for peace or for preconceived notions of positive world change, and are careful not to inject idealistic or ideologically-based wishes or preferences into critical world situations – such as peace, prosperity or other favoured qualities. We believe instead in assisting the process of building these conditions from the basis of people's own decisions, in line with their own ways, experience and beliefs, in their own lands and situations. We avoid opposing anything we might deem 'bad' or undesirable – which at times can be difficult. Instead, we work for 'forwardness' – for the acceleration of human/social evolution toward genuine and deep-rooted peace, reconciliation, solidarity and cooperation in the world.

In this light, mayhem or 'negative' events can be worthwhile if they add to 'forwardness' and the longterm learning-process humanity is engaged in. Our intention is to further awakening to the root-issues pervading our world, on the basis that the greatest 'evil' of today is public indifference, alienation, misunderstanding and abdication of responsibility. Our focus is to participate in world events and trends both proactively and responsively, accentuating their symbolism or significance, with a view to catalysing or accelerating shifts in human values, themselves leading toward resolution of deep-seated historic ills.

The method used involves psychically entering crucial situations to seek to address them at their heart, uncovering pathways by which current developments may be modified or reconfigured toward more productive ends. We draw on intuition, commonsense and 'inner guidance' when available. This at times demands 'getting in there' and acting as a probe or 'remote drone', an agent for 'higher powers' to work through. Sometimes I am aware that my actions are significant without knowing why. Sometimes I sense that the action simply didn't work. Sometimes it involves taking spontaneous initiatives in a sincere hope that it brings progress, without ever knowing whether it does.

Over the years I have variously penetrated the meetings of generals, terrorists or power-brokers, talked to wives and mothers, been present in crowds or conferences, entered into the core of computers or high-tech systems, carried out disaster-relief measures, fetched rescue helicopters, assisted in the 'transitioning' of dying people or entered the heart of clouds or forest fires. Sounds like Superman! But it isn't. At times I have operated esoterically – for example, by entering the inner-levels sanctum of the Temple of Jerusalem – or historically – for example, by creating interactive energy-connections between historic 'good times' and today's problematic situations.

Sometimes it involves entering the 'heart of the world' to do some intuitive rearranging of the furniture. On occasions I have worked with 'angels' or 'dragons' at work behind current world events, or with esoteric 'control lines' passing between other worlds and this world. In our group project we have addressed many collective and cultural elements such as fear, cross-cultural projection or the shadows of past history. Many of these last issues are addressed in my 2003 book Healing the Hurts of Nations.

History

While I was central in initiating this work, a positive response indicated 'an idea whose time had come'. For me, the roots of this activity lie in my involvement in student politics at London School of Economics in 1968-71, and also in 1975-78 in spiritual activities with lamas of the Tibetan Karma-Kagyu order. Then in the 1980s I founded a series of consciousness-raising camping retreats in Glastonbury, England. At one such camp in spring 1986, attended by 150 people and dedicated to 'earth mysteries', participants arrived with the news that Chernobyl had just exploded. The implications seemed apocalyptic. Midway through the camp participants engaged in a group visualisation in which they 'flew' together to Chernobyl, joining hands to swoop down and cover the nuclear plant with their 'subtle bodies'.

The experience was deeply moving. The poignancy of this experiment was later highlighted when it was learned that Chernobyl engineers had regained control of the situation at the very same moment as this visualisation had taken place. Such a 'chance happening' had occurred earlier too: in November 1983, at another gathering, a meditation had been done connecting with Glastonbury women at the women's peace camp at Greenham Common USAF base. It was discovered that the women had started to pull down the perimeter fence of the cruise missile base at precisely the same moment as our meditation had taken place. After these two experiences, I could not avoid noting the connection between action and outcome. It was deeply stirring.

Years passed, and in 1991 I was commissioned to compile The Only Planet of Choice on behalf of The Council of Nine, the non-earthly beings mentioned earlier. [The Council of Nine is a collection of non-earthly beings who were in psychic communication with a group of people between 1972 and 1993. This group included notable individuals such as Sir John Whitmore, David Hemery, Gene Roddenberry, Dr Andrija Puharich, Uri Geller, Lyall Watson, Werner Erhart and others. Phyllis Schlemmer was the 'transceiver' through whom the communications came.] This book included specific information about this kind of work. 'The Nine' asked the group of people communicating with them to carry out directed meditation work in connection with specific world issues, focused particularly on the Middle East. At one point the spokesman of the Nine, 'Tom', mentioned that there was a shortage of people doing such work, and that greater numbers and commitment would improve results. I realised I had the capacity to bring this about – though it was a nerve-wracking prospect too!

In 1995 I founded the Hundredth Monkey Project, a series of camping retreats for 100-150 people each time. We used meditation and intensive group process directed toward faraway conflicts and world issues, as the Nine had suggested. Notable results seemed to come about. A few days after we had carried out a six-hour non-stop group process focused on the Bosnian civil war, we found out that, while we had been in session, two Serbs had bombed a Sarajevo marketplace. This was shocking and disappointing, yet it had been the defining event causing NATO to move in and stop the conflict. We were challenged by the evidence of synchronicity. This also taught how 'negative' events such as the Serb bombing, in which 60 innocent people lost their lives, can in some circumstances bring about very 'positive' outcomes.

Death and violence, though deplorable, are distinct from meaningless and pointless destruction. These people's sacrifice in Sarajevo had provided an acute defining moment which changed history. We thus realised that the essence of our work was to help bring issues into the open, into public transparency, adding a fissile component of awareness, such that loss, pain and destruction gained meaning. This 'bearing witness' and drawing to attention helps toward eventual resolution not only of specific conflicts or disasters, but also of deeper patterns underlying and leading to them. We realised that current events can be used as a handle to grasp longer-term human patterns and tendencies.

The Hundredth Monkey Project encountered some challenges and was cleanly closed in 1997. One problem was that this work had such a profound effect on participants that it caused them to start new lives - meaning that we lost participants! Additionally, adjustment difficulties arose, making participants' return to 'normality' difficult – even though they were spiritually and psychologically quite accomplished people. As a footnote to this last observation, at our final 1997 retreat we focused on world power-structures and their legitimacy and integrity. On the final day, Princess Diana died in France. We heard about it the day after – made more poignant by a torrential thunderstorm. Participants returned home to a society which itself was in an 'altered state', and such readjustment problems disappeared that year.

The third major problem was funding. I was clear that funding should be 'clean' and unconditional, yet in the case of the three funding offers received, all included conditions requiring us somehow to serve the fund-providers' interests or organisations – however subtly. I had sought but the value of a mere component of one mere missile, yet extensive justification of our financial needs and its projected results was demanded. This was impossible, also spiritually irresponsible, so funding was not found. It is difficult to discuss the issues involved in public and with people who do not have first-hand experience of the issues involved.

The project was closed in 1997 before serious burn-out and complexity could set in. A small group of twelve people, later declining to seven, continued as a 'lean and mean' team. This group engaged in regular weekly coordinated meditations and four weekend meetings per year. Agreeing to 100% commitment to this work, the group researched and developed techniques, collated feedback and monitored developments, with a view to expanding activities at a later date. The group quietly continues today, though I am no longer a member.

I have also done conflict resolution work via e-mail, in connection with the crises in Kosovo, Israel and Afghanistan, by keeping communication lines open with people at the heart of these events and simply hearing their case, by bearing witness and adding helpful perspectives. I find this combination of e-mail and psychic-intuitive work to be effective. I also write periodic essays for Internet distribution, seeking to clarify the history, context and esoteric issues involved in working with world crises. I keep contact with networks of peace-workers, supporting and bolstering their efforts, ideas and personal lives. At the time of writing, in my innerwork, I was focused on inner dialogue with Saddam Hussein, Hamid Karzai, Yasser Arafat and on concealed influences behind the US president. This work is unsupported and quietly carried out.

A discussion of issues arising from this work

Motivation and ideology. Critical in these activities are two factors: simplicity of motivation and optimum impartiality. Motivation must be continually monitored. If complexity, 'compassion fatigue' or partisan preference enter the equation, it is important to step back and take a pit-stop, otherwise harm, motivational loss, disempowerment or 'attack' follow soon after. All actions must carefully be dedicated to 'the highest good', without injecting too specifically the hoped-for outcomes. No one fully understands why today's events unfold as they do, and what their enduring significance and historic context truly can be. We might deplore or approve of certain people or events, but such preference can reinforce counterproductive patterns and prejudices already at work. It is important to be wary of adopting interpretations and partisan views from the mass media too. Most pernicious is the notion that God or rightness is on our side: truth is, all sides are always flawed when entering into conflict, and conflict itself is a failure of social or international relationship.

Effort to overcome cultural bias is crucial: comfortably safe armchair geopoliticians might cast judgements or hold certain chosen beliefs, yet these are not necessarily relevant on the ground. Broad judgements such as 'democracy and prosperity are good', 'Muslim women are oppressed', 'genetic modification is bad', 'Osama bin Laden is evil' simply do not hold up. 'We' are not right and 'they' are not wrong. Certainties and viewpoints inevitably become reversed or dissolved by time, circumstance or experience. There are hidden twists of history or 'fate' which lead to eventually positive ends. Two examples: American blockades have caused Cuba to become the world leader in organic farming, and WW2 led Germany and Japan to become non-military in their foreign relations. Whatever arises, things can always be turned around, seen afresh and utilised as an agency of change. This is a key issue. Reformed criminals, by dint of their experience, can become the most exemplary of humans.

Separateness. The outbreak of conflict represents a schizophrenic splintering of realities such that, at times, and especially when disinformation and propaganda are added, opposing sides seem to live in entirely different worlds. Yet it always 'takes two to tango'. One side might seem to be a perpetrator and another a victim, but this is never entirely true – an open-minded understanding of the history and its underlying threads, background causes and collective psychology helps greatly here. One rationally difficult factor is that the future is as much a cause of the present as the past is – and current events can thus possess significances far beyond our ken. We are challenged therefore to suspend judgement, to put aside our standard grasp of events in order to get to the bottom of the matter.

One challenging notion is the observation that all of humanity is essentially and in fact one – one beingness, whether we like it or not. This is profound. A hungry Somali experiences poverty on behalf of affluent British, and affluent British experience satiation on behalf of hungry Somalis – and, as far as the collective psyche of humanity is concerned, both polar opposites complement and counterbalance each other. Both starving and satiated people experience different aspects of suffering and malnourishment – since lack and excess are complementary diseases of the soul.

This does not justify inequities in our world – but it is a starting place for our work to reintegrate the psyche of humanity. Both rich Americans and shot-up Afghans are equally deserving of compassion – just as are ourselves are enclosed in our own local realities. People in disaster or conflict zones 'tread the edge'. Strangely, they can be more 'alive' than people living comfortably numb lives. Even terrorists can be motivated by forms of love, commitment and community – and, to penetrate their realities, we must see how and why they feel this and step beyond our own judgements into another way of seeing terrorists.

Hardship engages and awakens human capacities. People experiencing regularity, security and normality, in a sense, thus miss some of the stuff of life. This by no means justifies hardship, yet it turns humanitarian aid into a two-way circulation. Materially-rich, socially-poor countries give resources to aid charities, unconsciously creating a connection with contrasting, socially-rich and materially-poor peoples. Thereby an interchange is established which tends toward re-balancing of the collective human psyche. Globalisation cannot succeed unless such balancing takes place. Unbeknownst to most people, political and economic refugees knocking at the doors of 'developed' (socially poor) countries bring with them a gift of grace – and offering them shelter is not just an act of charity. In esoteric aid work it is important to remember that 'we' are not helping 'them': we are working to increase the connectivity between extremes of experience. Suffering peoples give us an opportunity to share human experience, to reclaim our lives and our aliveness.

Compassion. Compassion means 'feeling with', putting oneself in another's boots. It is not a high-minded feeling – it is intensely human and natural. It is the starting point of conflict resolution: a capacity to understand how others get to where they stand, how they map their realities and justify their actions. Compassion implies insightful understanding, and agreement is not required. It creates mutual contact, acceptance and means to resolution. People fight and cause trouble as a result of hurt, whether this is acknowledged or unconscious.

Inner dialogues with Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s brought this home to me: on a soul level, he referenced me to the repeated beatings he had received when young. These caused him to develop the belief that the world was against him. He therefore devised ways of 'getting his own back'. He had known no mercy, and thus saw no reason to give any – he was emotionally as hard as steel. In my experience, his feelings started to open up around 1993-95, as he saw himself increasingly as a father-protector of his people against the ravaging injustices of foreign military imperialism. This standpoint, while perhaps flawed, hypocritical, mixed with self-importance and painful to others, is nevertheless understandable. Recognising this good-hearted, human streak offers a point of access to the inner heart of Saddam Hussein. By acknowledging his pain I was psychically allowed into his confidences. I doubt that he was consciously aware of anything, but his unconscious actions might well have been affected.

These dialogues have carried on over a period of years. Similarly, Slobodan Milosevic and his wife Mira Markovic had, when children, seen their relatives kill their own parents for politically partisan reasons. This locked these two souls into a vortex of fate which made Macbeth look like small-fry. Psychically, accessing these truths permits confidential dialogue which, in my experience, leads not only to a subjective softening-up between us, but also, on occasions, to positive developments emerging in the news broadcasts some days later. One of the worst things for a human is to feel that nobody else understands – presidents can feel it acutely. So the task is to understand – and start from there.

Love and light. These are key concepts for 'lightworkers'. The only problem is, a person who has experienced pain, loss and injustice can often be impervious to angelic healing vibrations of light and mercy. If anything, it can at times make them angrier and more frustrated, tightening their grip on the trigger or hardening their heart, just as a smoker might become anxious if deprived of his tobacco, whether or not it is good for him. Cascades of light can simply roll off the backs of alienated people. Or love brings up fear. We discovered this when working in connection with Northern Ireland – why was it that extensive 'lightwork' being done by many people seemed not to be working? If working with terrorists, soldiers or other 'hard nuts', it is important to seek entry-points into these people's energy-fields – entry-points which are effective for them. This perception led to the idea of the 'psychic back-rub'. Most 'hard nuts', in truth, just want to go home and 'get a life'. They can relate to a can of beer, a hot bath, a fully belly or a safe haven as a starting point to healing. They need to tell their story to someone who understands, helping them overcome their alienation. I am happy to bring light, peace or love into a situation, yet it can at times prove inappropriate. So it can be very human feelings that I tend to 'fix' for them, if I can, when doing psychic aid work. Only then can the tension and pain unravel, allowing more thoughtful consideration of other issues. This I feel to be important.

Cultural issues. If I am working with Chinese soldiers in Tibet, I seek not to address them with Western concepts. Instead I do my homework to try to find out what lies in their own cultural experience. A young Chinese soldier from a big city, stuck out in the boondocks in godforsaken Tibet, doesn't respond to the Archangel Michael or to Western concepts of human rights – instead, he would kick a nun just for the hell of it, just because he is frustrated and confused. A Yemeni terrorist responds to Allah, and a Colombian terrorist to a hit of cocaine. This kind of innerwork demands a deep openness on our own part, which has its challenges and a deeply elasticising effect. If ever you choose to engage in such work, be willing to change yourself.

Intelligence gathering. One can find out remarkable things when psychically investigating current world events. One discovers who is really responsible, or that what has been said in official statements is incorrect, or that things are not as we would believe or deduce. This can, at times, be disturbing, contradicting one's understanding of reality. When I discovered that Osama bin Laden had been shipped out of Afghanistan to a safe haven I could identify, at an early stage of the American offensive on Afghanistan, with the knowledge and consent of the Americans, it took me a week to rearrange my thoughts on this! When I inwardly researched the relations between Russia and Serbia during the Kosovo conflict, I discovered factors which contradicted my understanding of current affairs and my training as an historian. This can be intellectually fascinating, yet it is not for the lily-livered. Penetrating such information also raises personal security issues – there are those who would keep such things secret - and there can be a need for similar levels of secrecy or discretion to those of intelligence services, since uttering such information in public does not guarantee understanding.

To act or not to act? At times, situations can arise which can be very challenging. Once upon a time I found myself riding on the back of a cruise missile navigating the valleys of Bosnia, heading for Serbia. Another time I found myself at a war-council of Chechen leaders, witnessing a serious argument. Once I found myself attending a secret meeting in the back-rooms of the Davos World Economic Forum Conference, at which the meeting's agenda was, to me, very questionable. What does one do in such situations? Act according to personal preference? Choose sides? What, in this instance, is truly motivating our interventions?

At times it is difficult to be sufficiently impartial, to align with 'the highest good', because of personal value-judgements. At times one is asked to go along with actions which at first seem shady or undesirable. Agility of viewpoint is necessary and sometimes difficult to achieve. The general answer is to 'offer it up' – to align to over-arching influences which see more than we do. This is a matter of faith. In some circumstances, 'higher powers' require actions or choices on our part that they themselves cannot carry out. This raises major moral questions to which there are no simple answers – and simple answers can also reflect ideological bias. The position I have taken has been continually to review my choices and, when necessary, to own up to my own unclarity or errors. If such questions daunt you, don't enter this work. However, before pulling back, ask yourself "What are the consequences of my doing nothing?" – since they can be worse. Most of the world is doing nothing. We as humans are endowed with free will, instructed to do the best we can with it – and do it we must, and we will learn.

Power. What right have I or you to intervene? We have no right, only choice and responsibility. If we evade these questions or omit to recognise our weaknesses or errors, the chickens nevertheless come back to roost. Errors will sometimes be made. As humans, all we can do is our best – this applies in psychic work, driving cars and all manner of daily activities. The paradox here is that the power to influence things grows in proportion to our commitment and to our acceptance that change might not go the way we intended. We must factor in acceptance that we perhaps can change nothing. Paradoxically, I have found that detectable results arise most often when I least seek them, when my humility is strongest. Yet I have also found that, on balance, despite periodic storms of conscience, the overall effect of work I have done is meaningful and satisfactory. It's important to avoid megalomania! Apart from these concerns, I count this work to lie at the core of my life purpose, something which needs doing.

Personal growth. I find I work best with world issues which activate my own personal psycho-emotional issues. This work is not an intellectually detached activity, even though I have mentioned impartiality above. It involves activating emotional charge within oneself and working with it as openly and honestly as possible. There is a kind of involved detachment which works here. In emotional charge there is energy – it connects with the 'lower chakras' and with human feelings, bringing cosmic verities and higher potentials into the human realm. It requires considerable self-monitoring, since emotions must be used to clarify and energise the work, not to corrupt it with bias or frustration. Any signs of antipathy toward people, nations or events must be re-channelled into forward-moving energy, or one must pull out of such psychic work to process identified personal issues more personally. This too has its value, helping people 'out there' to 'own their feelings' in the situations in which they stand – since conflicts arise from non-owned feelings projected onto others.

Trust. In the end, it is necessary to trust deeply that, whether one is getting things 'right' or not, guiding and protecting forces, however one perceives these, will have a regulating and moderating influence. This is a matter of intelligent trust and checking sincerity of motivation. I usually include a prayer that, if there is anything for me to learn, may I become aware of it and learn. In a group, there is the added possibility of peer review and discussion – though discussion of inner experiences in words can also be problematic and constraining. Eventually it is necessary to resort to conscience, that entirely subjective feeling that one is either 'on track' or 'off-beam', and simply to trust. If in doubt, take a rest, climb a mountain, and think it through, deeply. Inner trust in oneself, one's learning capacities and 'higher powers' is crucial.

Results. Naturally, we seek results, not only because we would love to create them, but also to give ourselves some feeling of justification for our efforts. Yet, having worked with the question of Israel-Palestine for over a decade, I have at times found it easy to grow disillusioned and to feel that my work has not helped. This is a judgement which might not ultimately be relevant. We have no way of knowing how much or long resolution must take, how deep it goes and what is truly involved. It boils down to another question: how much am I committed to this work? How conditional is my commitment? Do I need results? This waxes large when it comes to matters of funding these activities and communicating about them to other people. Some people are 'wowed' by it, and others dismayed – inviting us to stop work, to be secretive, or to avoid creating such reactions. Yet, paradoxically, the less we seek results, the more they seem to arise. I and my colleagues have witnessed results – rain falling on forest fires, or warplanes turning back. Yet, while it is natural to seek results, it is most important simply to note them, leave them alone, and carry on with as little 'attachment to the fruits of our labours' as possible. Otherwise motivation can be corrupted and the work and its potency can surely be undermined.

Periodicity and clarity. The reader might believe that psychic work involves the power to completely clear one's mind and operate clearly and lucidly, whenever one wants. In my own experience, this is not so. The observations in this document are distilled from a decade's work - usually once per week, meaning fifty or more sessions per year. Many of the impressions gained and inner actions taken can be quite momentary and not always clear. Sometimes 'meditations' are foggy or tied up with personal preoccupations. Sometimes glimpses are had, or there is a five-minute burst of insight in a thirty-minute session. Experiences can be clear and lucid, or calm and sequenced, or dynamic and action-packed. Sometimes 'the meditation is meditating me'. Some sessions can be disturbing. Some sessions are entirely 'blank' or 'uneventful' – and nothing wrong is happening. Our psyches have their periods and changes.

I am grateful to my partner and son for their support and for avoiding probing with questions. If I am 'away with the angels' or with Palestinians, they let me be. This helps greatly. I would not class myself as a good meditator or psychic. Critical in developing psychic abilities has been giving myself full permission to utilise them and to step aside from my intellect. I took twenty years to give myself this permission. The most important thing is to do the work and keep on doing it - experience then builds up over time. In the early days I sensed things only, with occasional glimpses of a more visual, detailed kind. With time, patience and practice, my visual capacities developed. Important too is an intuitive mind, capable of thinking in the heart, by leaps and turns, and willing to accept surprising verities with minimal resistance. If such work as this interests you, start now, be willing to give the remainder of your life to it, and as time goes on you will feel your way forward. Failing anything, climb a hill and have a chat with your God: trust, and you will be supported. Just do it.

Revisiting past work. Nowadays we tend to focus on a world crisis for a while, then to move on to other matters. Remember Cambodia, Kurdistan or the 'disappeared' of Argentina? In this work, previous activities should be revisited and monitored. Paradoxically, post-crisis issues can be more painful than crises themselves. In crisis, people are in survival-mode or inner overdrive, but after a crisis they must live with real consequences – loss of family, livelihood, hope, community. Secondary consequences arise, bringing complications to the healing process.

This points to another aspect of this work: 'preventative medicine'. Crises are not necessary or inevitable: they are outcomes of irresponsibility, social abdication, public commission, narrow self-interest and other factors which do lie in the hands of ordinary people at critical times, but frequently they are evaded. This is our ingrained human habit. The world's greatest problem today is not 'evil' - it is public indifference and unawareness. It is not 'Lucifer' but 'Ahriman'. 'Evil' can be learned from – it can 'bring light'. But Ahriman induces 'sleep of the soul' – so a key task is to engage in actions to assist in global public awakening. This is possibly the primary focus of this kind of work. When watching an Israeli helicopter poised to fire a missile at a Palestinian building, I pray not for the missile to be stopped, but for the awakening of world public awareness around this issue such that humanity will participate and decide. I pray for 'twists of fate' which precipitate 'defining moments'.

Psychic attack. This is a serious matter, but not a cause for paranoia. Two statements are true, in my experience: 1. there are human and esoteric forces intent upon oppressing humanity, which will act decisively to stop redemptive activities and make difficult the lives of those who carry them out; and 2. 'opposition intervention' or 'psychic attack' occur only if and when there is a propensity in the victim to receive or attract it. Attack cannot happen unless there is a hook in our psyches for it to grasp – guilt, fear, or unacknowledged self-undoing patterns. This is a fact of the game, and there is nothing wrong with having 'faults' or a shadow if one is working on oneself. The test lies in our willingness to move forward, to learn from life. 'Psychic attack' is real, and messing with the secret areas within human society and with its hidden power arrangements can attract unwanted attention. There are techniques one can develop to avoid being seen – or disliked. The best response to attack, if it comes, is to transform oneself through it, to use the situation for generating self-change and awareness.

'Negativity' cannot create – it can only block, drain and complicate created things – so the trick is to out-create it, to remove one's own side of the problem, to attend to self-healing and rebirth, to take a rest, to forgive and move on. Sometimes 'attack' can be devastating or illness-inducing. Occasionally I have managed to penetrate the heart of the matter to find a hurt baby there, or a fear-driven being which is being used by malign forces, and the matter can be transformed quickly, simply by seeing through it – sometimes calling for 'higher' assistance. Resistance is futile: by fighting negativity one absorbs it. One strikes gold by 'owning one's patterns'. This brings self-forgiveness and a re-constitution of one's poise. There is always something to be learned, even if we know not what is to be learned – whenever one takes this approach, healing and reintegration will already have started. Meanwhile, without fear, be discreet, learn when to keep your head down, keep anger in check, keep your spirits and immune system healthy, and carry on, in good faith.

What next?

For me, this is a personal mission, to which other missions have become subsidiary. Whatever else happens, I shall continue. I know a number of people with similar motivation. Combined with experience gained in large-group process, I intend to apply these abilities 'closer to the frontline' in due course. During 2002/3 I intend to focus on rewriting Healing the Hurts of Nations, and to raise funding to support future 'field work', networking and psychic work in connection with crisis resolution, together with lecturing and training.

There has, to me, been acceptable proof that this psychic-spiritual work works. I have observed this in many contexts and during periods of general public intensity. I would suggest that the rapid and unexpected collapse of the Taliban in Afghanistan in October-November 2001, reducing a looming humanitarian crisis, was an example of the affective power of prayer – not only conscious prayer by religious/spiritual people, but energy arising from the concern of millions of ordinary citizens worldwide. An intractable military and humanitarian crisis was alleviated, and no commentators have really satisfactorily explained its speed.

There are questionable issues too. During the 'Great Experiment', called in early 1998 in response to a developing war situation between USA and Iraq, an enormous meditation link-up was arranged at a very critical time, and, lo, the warplanes took off and then were ordered back. However, there was also a problem. The background was the question of weapons of mass-destruction. I would suggest that meditators' sincere yet perhaps reactive and poorly thought-through desire for peace glossed over this important question, leaving it for a future day. Whether or not this assertion is correct – there is no evidence either way – the lesson to be learned here is to be careful of what you pray for. Use head, heart and intuitions, and frame your intent or prayer carefully. There is a need for a degree of specificity to it, otherwise spiritual energy might not 'come down into' the situation at hand. The Heavenly Tao needs channelling through with skill, and 'engineering issues' are involved. However, we cannot be too specific, since we can over-intervene. I find myself following intuitive 'threads' of possibility, ways of re-weaving a solution or quickening 'forwardness', connecting up the stray wires or laying paths through problem-jungles. It's a matter of intuitively ferreting channels, laying light-threads of connectivity, sawing up unnecessary blockages, taking people or souls by the hand, sometimes planting 'love bombs' or 'truth-mines', motivated by 'the highest good'.

As more and more people practice this activity, skills and experience increase, and a lift-off effect is accumulating. This has been noticeable during decisive moments such as those on Sept 11th 2001 and the ensuing two months. These events have been notable in their poignancy and symbolism, with the archetypes they activate and the slowly-growing feeling of connection and relatedness the public has been feeling toward people they would not otherwise identify with in other parts of the world. When events are powerful enough to activate such feelings amidst the general public in the busyness of life, something remarkable happens – even if it is quickly forgotten afterwards. Yet this dialogue between the world public's conscious and unconscious is probably the main mechanism of world change today. In the longterm humanity is busy discovering its essential oneness of spirit and psyche, its commonality of interest and its global interrelatedness. It is also moving toward a threshold of evolution where 'mind and matter' interact more clearly. The collective unconscious is possibly closer to the surface than ever before.

In our darkening world situation it is important to remember that 'the darkest hour is just before dawn'. Before breakthrough occurs, the ego – the old order – struggles hard to retain its grip, and we see this struggle enacted worldwide, from top to bottom of society and within our very own psyches. This has a delaying effect which allows destructive patterns to emerge, yet it also has a braking effect on world change, with the possible effect that transition rather than breakdown might prevail. We shall see. Times are intensifying, leading to an almost inevitable catharsis, a time of truth. Yet this need not be catastrophic. It could be quiet and surreptitious. It could arise from a simple collective tiredness with the same old thing, a sudden 'getting real' phase. Whenever and however this emerges, it will not constitute an answer to our world's problems but a full clarification of them, which sets off a historic process of correction. Intuitively I sense that the world could be made acceptably safe, balanced and friendly by the 2060s – but time will tell.

Innerwork of this kind is ridiculed or discounted by many. We could before long enter a phase where this work becomes complexified, through the entry of new participants and the creation of a new potential fad – and also criticism. Simplicity and bottom-line quiet dedication will become increasingly important here. The lift-off effect will gather momentum, as more people gain experience in this field of operation.

Conclusion

The purpose of this report is to outline the experiences of one practitioner of this art and to submit it for serious consideration by people in the aid, conflict-resolution and 'lightworking' fields. I do not suggest that people should adopt this kind of practice unless they feel distinctly called to do so. Far from being hocus-pocus, though nevertheless having problematic aspects, such psychic-spiritual work has various merits. It can work in and of itself, positively affecting the world's evolving situations. It can support the actions of aid workers, diplomats, reconcilers, peacemakers and citizens of goodwill. It can aid the through-flow of spiritual energies into the world. And it can do a power of good to the practitioner, as a growth path in its own right.

I believe it has concrete geopolitical effects – but that is also my own belief. This work has to be done discreetly. Some are lonely in it, and it demands perseverance. When coupled with other activities – such as the work on Internet, and as an author, speaker and activist, that I do – it becomes a part of something more, whether treated as a 'sideline' or as a central life-focus. Whether or not it has actual effects in the world, it would be a sad day for humanity if the last person to believe in it stopped doing so.